Who got the first question at the debates? Answers here!

[Coexist]

Not thats its important, but I was curious about who gets the first question - here are the results:


4/26/07 South Carolina – Clinton

6/3/07 New Hampshire – Obama

6/28/07 Howard U/D.C. – Clinton

7/24/07 CNN/YouTube – Dodd

8/7/07 Chicago - Dodd

8/9/07 Las Angeles/LGBT - Obama (interesting note: the time slots were given by the rapidness in which they responded to the invitation.)

8/19/07 Iowa – Clinton

9/9/07 Miami - Obama

9/20/07 Iowa - Richardson

9/26/07 New Hamphire - Obama

10/30/08 Philadelphia – Obama

11/15/07 Las Vegas – Clinton

12/1/07 Iowa - Edwards

12/1/07 Iowa - Edwards

12/04/07 Iowa Clinton

12/13/07 Iowa – Obama

1/15/08 – Las Vegas – Clinton

1/21/08 South Carolina – Clinton

1/31/08 L.A.– Clinton

2/21/08 UT/Austin - Clinton

2/26/08 Cleveland – Clinton

[napi21]

1. I don't remember the #, but MSNBC said last night that David Schuster

looked it up and Hillary DID get MANY more "fisrt questions". Being first is ALWAYS a disadvantage!

[SoFlaJet]

4. it was 6 out of 10 debates

that she got the first question-it sounded whiny IMO

[boston bean]

28. but 5 of the last 5 nt

[Occam Bandage]

31. Are coinflips sexist too?

[Coexist]

34. we all know what happened to Sacajawea and Susan B. Anthony

don't get me started...

[Ravy]

33. And the first three questions last night.

[gateley]

2. Russert made an interesting observation that twice he asked questions,

addressing them to neither Hillary or Obama, and Clinton took the lead in answering.

[Abacus]

13. I caught that during the debate

and found it telling.

[rodeodance]

30. damage control by RusTurd. he was ticked at the gal.

[debatepro]

3. 1/31 obama spoke first

and clinton spoke last. On 2/21 clinton spoke first and last. I'd rather speak first and last or at least last in any debate. Forget about the who gets the first question... speaking last is critical... and she got to do it in two debates back to back.

[Coexist]

5. I gave that to Clinton, because although Obama spoke first, Clinton got the first question

I figured I should go with the "first question" because that is what she brought up.

[Coexist]

6. Okay - got them all! I found 21 - Obama was not at one of them.

[MadBadger]

7. I dont think the complaint is who got the first question at the debate

but rather she feels at each debate, she is always the first one to get asked each question.

[LadyVT]

8. On Thurs., she was asked every question first for the first hour.

That allowed Obama several minutes to formulate his answers. She had to answer immediately. That's the point.

Note that in every debate this year she has been asked the first question.

[Coexist]

9. actually, they spent the first 20 minutes of the debate on healthcare- and they both got airtime

this was not to prove anything, I was curious, and I thought others might be too.

[goldcanyonaz]

12. I believe she meant that she goes first and he gets to forumate his answers after hers.

[Coexist]

20. Oh, yes that is correct - that is why it is better to go second, my response was

to her opinion that Senator Clinton was asked every question for the first 30 minutes.

[rexy]

32. I thought it was mentioned here several times that at the Austin..

debate, the order in which the candidates answered was determined by a coin toss.

[Auntie Bush]

10. Clinton got the first 6 out of 7 in the last 7 debates.

No wonder she feels as if she always gets the first question. The earlier debates were so long ago...it's hard to remember. People remember the most recent debates.

It seems like she also gets the hard questions first and has to do all the spontaneous thinking and talking and Obama gets think of his answer and then say he agrees with what she said...and then add some misc. comments. Russert was a fmitch (that's fu***** male bitch)

[Coexist]

15. actually, to do the research, I had to read the beginning of all the transcripts

The first question was often one of the most obvious,

One was about something she had said about Senator Obama over the weekend (not tough - I am sure she and her handlers reviewed this question/response in detail.)

MR. WILLIAMS: Senator Clinton, we're here in Ohio. Senator Obama is here. This is the debate. You would agree the difference in tone over just those 48 hours was striking.


One was on Cuba (tough one)

The question for you, Senator Clinton: Would you be willing to sit down with Raul Castro, or whoever leads the Cuban dictatorship when you take office at least just once, to get a measure of the man?

One of her questions was asking her opinion on the differences between her and Obama. (not tough - see above)

So what I'd like to ask is, what do you consider the most important policy distinction between the two of you?


One was about whether or not she backed Harry Reid on saying the war in Iraq was lost. (semi-tough, but she is in the Democratic Primary, not the GE, so not too tough)

Senator Clinton, your party's leader in the United States Senate, Harry Reid, recently said the war in Iraq is lost. A letter to today's USA Today calls his comments "treasonous" and says if General Patton were alive today, Patton would "wipe his boots" with Senator Reid.
Do you agree with the position of your leader in the Senate?


One was over comments made by her campaign (this time by her husband) over the weekend (not tough, I am sure this was a well rehearsed comment as well.)

As we sit here, this, as many of you may know, is the Reverend Martin Luther King’s birthday. Race was one of the issues we expected to discuss here tonight. Our sponsors expected it of us. No one, however, expected it to be quite so prominent in this race as it has been over the last 10 days.

We needn’t go back over all that has happened, except to say that this discussion, before it was over, involved Dr. King, President Johnson, even Sidney Poitier, several members of Congress, and a prominent African-American businessman supporting Senator Clinton, who made what seemed to be a reference to a party of Senator Obama’s teenage past that the Senator himself has written about in his autobiography.

The question to begin with here tonight, Senator Clinton, is: How did we get here?


Those are all the questions from this year, I can go back if you would like me to, or you can. The pattern I see, is that recently, her campaign had done something newsworthy and the newsmakers hit that first, trying to get the candidates to break out and be emotional, looking for fireworks and something to discuss the next day.

[goldcanyonaz]

11. So, the told the truth. In the last 7 debates she has gone first 6 times.

In all that you posted she has gone first 10 times to Obama's 6 times.

[Coexist]

16. correct. those are the facts.

[0007]

14. Hillary Hillary Hillary.......

Commonly encountered, experienced, or observed..........

[bigbrother05]

17. The Austin debate

Obama won the coin toss and said Hillary could go first.

[goldcanyonaz]

18. Great job putting the facts together for us. Thank you.

[ginantonic40]

19. Ladies first

So what exactly is the problem? Seems to me that going first might be an advantage. You get first shot at influencing the direction and tone of the debate. Seems that would be a plus. If I were going to complain about something it would be about who gets the last word. Who gets to leave the last impresssion.

BTW,I thought the whole idea of interjecting a Saturday Night Live sketch (along with costume photos) into presidential debate was silly.

[Coexist]

21. no problem, as I mentioned in my OP, I was curious

and decided to waste 45 minutes of my life putting together that post.

[ginantonic40]

27. Thanks

I wasn't referring to you as having the problem, anyway. I meant the Clinton campaign. And I'd wondered about the stats so thanks for doing that work.

[pdxmom]

22. I remember that at the beginning of the Austin debate, they said that

they had a coin toss, which Obama won, and he chose to go second.

[The Anti-Bush]

23. Hasn't she also spoken last in the final 5 debates?

I could be wrong about the last five, but I'm right aboutt he last two. I didn't hear her complaining about that.

And besides, she DID ask for the debates, didn't she?

[HeraldSquare212]

24. In the TX debate, it was decided by coin toss - Obama won and elected to let Clinton go first.

Was that type of mechanism used in the other debates? I suppose with multiple candidates it would be kind of impossible. But maybe pulling names out of a hat, etc.?

[Coexist]

29. in a couple, I read that one name was drawn out of a hat (or the equivalent)

some didn't mention how they arrived at the order.

[cloudythescribbler]

25. I think this chart is all mixed up -- eg, there was one in NH shortly before their primary nt

[Coexist]

26. I googled "first democratic debate 2007 and found that - then I found this great link:

http://www.youdecide2008.com/video/

which has them all listed.